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California Supreme Court Ruling Abolishes Redevelopment

By Josh Stephens on 29 December 2011 - 11:42am

This morning the California Supreme Court issued a ruling upholding a law that disbands the state's nearly 400 redevelopment agencies.

The ruling upholds the constitutionality of AB 1X 26, the budget bill that eliminates redevelopment agencies while striking down AB 1X 27, the bill that would have allowed redevelopment agencies to continue operating as long as their host jurisdictions paid remittance fees to the state. The bills were designed to reap an estimated $1.6 billion in funds that lawmakers said were necessary to help offset the state's budget deficit.

The ruling, which was unanimous except for Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye's dissent regarding the AB 1X 27 decision, fulfills what many in the redevelopment community considered their "worst nightmare." Laywers who represented the California Redevelopment Association had tried to argue that the two bills were "inseverable," but the court rejected this argument.

Gov. Jerry Brown hailed the ruling's effect on the state budget but did not comment on redevelopemnt itself. In a statement, Brown said, “Today’s ruling by the California Supreme Court validates a key component of the state budget and guarantees more than a billion dollars of ongoing funding for schools and public safety.”

The California Redevelopment Association and other supporters of redevelopment are expected to lobby for legislation that would reinstate redevelopment.